remortgage application, having to choose an 'approved' solicitor

newfoundglory

i started a full remortgage application and have been asked to pick an approved solicitor from a list, no mortgage offer will be given unless a solicitor is provided.

For a simple remortgage the quotes from only two firms were just under £700.

I dont think i have much choice, but what do i do?  do i nominate one without accepting the quote?  should i accept a quote a hope for the best?  i am 6 months away from current mortgage ending.

tasticz

What do you mean without accepting the quote?

the solicitors money will be due prior to remortgage completion.

have you checked if it’s cheaper to find a mortgage which includes free conveyancing?

newfoundglory

the application form asked for my nominated solicitor, do i just enter one on the list without instructing them at this current time (quote only valid for 14 days) so do I accept the quote now in case i decide to accept a mortgage offer and proceed in 4-6 months time?

Apparently no legal fees if there is no completion.

It is for a fixed-rate offset mortgage so very limited products available.

K_S

newfoundglory said:

i started a full remortgage application and have been asked to pick an approved solicitor from a list, no mortgage offer will be given unless a solicitor is provided.

For a simple remortgage the quotes from only two firms were just under £700.

I dont think i have much choice, but what do i do?  do i nominate one without accepting the quote?  should i accept a quote a hope for the best?  i am 6 months away from current mortgage ending.

@newfoundglory Unless it's a very high value property, an obscure lender, non standard requirements (eg LTD co BTL, transfer of equity, etc), £700 is exorbitant for a simple remo.

I don't think you're looking in the right place. There should be fixed-fee remo conveyancing available for £200-250-300 or so from the conveyancing panels, I regularly instruct them for my clients where the cashback more than covers this cost. As long as there's nothing overly complicated with your property, they do the job fine.

If you're using a broker, ask them for a fixed-price remo conveyancing quote, they should be able to source a cheap one.

If you're going direct, then just Google fixed price remortgage conveyancing and look around.

newfoundglory

Thanks for this.
This is a self application (no advice) for an Yorkshire BS mortgage, and searching their panel of 150-200 solicitors I only got 2 conveyancing quotes of just under £700 each. Nothing complicated remortgage of freehold with redemption of 1 current mortgage.

I am only half way through the full YBS application, it seems L&C have the same mortgage with estimated legals of £300.  I am wondering if I should ask YBS to delete my application and I will opt for a broker, but surely the brokers must be using the same panel I have searched?

quite confused, or is this just the current mortgage market?

simon_or

I'm pretty sure YBS is not available through brokers, they are direct-to-customer only.

What panel are you talking about? If it's through the YBS website, they'll probably take a big cut of the fees you pay, hence the £700 and over quotes you're getting. I don't think my broker has ever sent me a quote of more than £250 for a freehold remortgage, and it's always been fixed price and no completion no fee.

You can use the YBS panel to check if a particular firm is on there or not, but use the comparison sites to get a cheap quote from a solicitor on their panel.

chanz4

sams conveyancing quoted me a lot less and their sols are on panel

K_S

newfoundglory said:

Thanks for this.
This is a self application (no advice) for an Yorkshire BS mortgage, and searching their panel of 150-200 solicitors I only got 2 conveyancing quotes of just under £700 each. Nothing complicated remortgage of freehold with redemption of 1 current mortgage.

I am only half way through the full YBS application, it seems L&C have the same mortgage with estimated legals of £300.  I am wondering if I should ask YBS to delete my application and I will opt for a broker, but surely the brokers must be using the same panel I have searched?

quite confused, or is this just the current mortgage market?

@newfoundglory I just did a quick search for a 200k freehold resi remo for YBS on the MSM comparison site https://www.moneysupermarket.com/conveyancing/ and it gave me no-completion no-legal-fee quotes for £300 from the larger firms. So hopefully you should be able to get some options there.

PS: I've put the link above only because MSM is MSE's parent company.